The highly-respected Palmer served last year as the Dallas Cowboys' quarterbacks coach. He was granted permission last week to meet with Giants' officials, and his addition to Tom Coughlin's staff was officially announced Monday.

Palmer also worked for Coughlin in 1997-98, as quarterbacks coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the two have remained close friends.

Ostensibly, Palmer replaces Kevin Gilbride, who was promoted to offensive coordinator three weeks ago. The Giants dismissed offensive coordinator John Hufnagel with one week remaining in the regular season.

Manning will join a long list of first-round quarterbacks who have worked with Palmer during his long tenure in the league. Some of the others include Drew Bledsoe, Tim Couch and David Carr. In addition, Palmer was instrumental in the development of Mark Brunell in Jacksonville.

"I think Eli is an extremely talented quarterback and I look
forward to working with him," Palmer said.

Clearly, the progress of Manning, whose inconsistencies continued in 2006, is key to the Giants and their future.

"I'm excited about Coach Palmer becoming our quarterbacks
coach," Manning said. "He has a history of working with some
quarterbacks that have done great things in this league. I had the
opportunity to meet with him on Friday and we had a good
conversation."

Palmer, 57, broke into the professional coaching ranks in the CFL in 1983 and also worked in the USFL before joining the Houston Oilers staff (1990-92). He also worked in New England (1993-96), Jacksonville (1997-98), Cleveland (1999-2000) and Houston (2001-2005). He was the first head coach of the expansion Cleveland Browns, and compiled a 5-27 record in two seasons, and has also been an offensive coordinator.

"Chris is an excellent football coach," Coughlin said. "He's
very sound, very logical and very good with the players. He's
always done a good job working with quarterbacks. Just look at the
numbers in Dallas this year after they made a quarterback change."

His college background is extensive and includes two stints as a head coach, at New Haven (1986-87) and Boston University (1988-89).

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. To check out Len's chat archive, click here. The Associated Press contributed to this report.